Left Wing
by MillionMoments
Summary: For Sam Carter, it felt good to be something other then an air force officer or a scientist. Sam Fic, Gen. SamVala friendship. SamTeam friendship.


At the age of 14, Sam Carter did not excel in any particular sport. She was fit enough, but nobody would say she was a natural athlete.

At age 14 her mother died.

* * *

When she started back at school that fall, they were playing field hockey in Phys Ed. Sam had never disliked the game, but now she found a new passion for it. It was just the right mix of aggression and discipline that she needed to work out her grief. 

And eventually, after she got over her mothers death as much as sheever would, she was surprised to find she still rather enjoyed it. She had gotten good at it as well. She played for her high school team, and they won the league. It felt good to be part of something.

* * *

She's pleased that the air force academy has a field hockey team. She kind of didn't expect them to. The academy naturally encourage team sports, looking out for each other on the hockey pitch is essentially the same as looking out for each other on the battle field. Except with big sticks and flying balls instead of guns and bombs. 

Well, maybe not so much, but the principle is still there.

* * *

When she was in Washington D.C she played for a local team. Nothing to do with the air force, though a few of the girls were military most were civilian. It felt different from the air force team she had become accustomed to. Not nearly as competitive. That would probably be because these people weren't trained to fight for their lives. 

She likes it better. She has a life outside of her job, and a hobby that keeps her fit. It was nice to feel she was part of more than one thing. That she was Captain Dr. Samantha Carter USAF PhD. And she was also just Sam Carter, left wing.

* * *

Joining the Stargate program was a consuming thing. Coming up close with so many things she had never imagined, fiddling with technology way beyond her understanding and enemies' attacking at the most inconvenient times means Sam Carter all but forgets what it is to have a life outside of her job. To be somebody other than the air force officer or the scientist. 

But when ordered to get a life by her commanding officer, Sam thinks she should at least try to follow it.

So she joins a local amateur team. One where it doesn't matter if she has to pull out at the last minute for work, because most of the players have jobs/families that lead them to occasionally do the same thing. It's good exercise, she thinks, and it's bound to count towards getting a life.

* * *

She never tells the guys she joined the team. She's not sure why. Despite that, the three of them start turning up to her home games. She suspects Colonel O'Neill got the information from Cassie. Though the league is played on a Sunday, and training Tuesday nights, her second ever match was moved to a Saturday and so she explained to Cassie she'd be late to their chess game. Since then Cassie always enquires about who won, and when she was next playing. 

Frankly she finds it distracting they are there. Crowds at amateur field hockey games are hardly huge, and they're quite often in her peripheral vision. Yet she notices that a lot of the women on the team -especially the single ones - play a lot better. Even if it is evident they are showing off. Afterwards in the locker room, being assaulted with questions about who is single and what are they like, her suspicions are confirmed. And sometimes when she does see the guys out of the corner of her eye, she really can't blame them for liking them around.

In her way, Sam begins to actively encourage them to come to games by making sure she always mentions to Cassie when she is going to play. She finds it somewhat amusing and satisfying that though they ordered her to get a life, all they have to do on a Sunday is come watch her have one.

Most of the girls on the team (she calls them girls, a habit of her school days, even though most are over 25) seem to have a favourite of her team members. Daniel probably comes out top overall. That might have something to do with his good looks, or it might be the hot drinks he brings them after games on miserable days. In field hockey, you don't stop play just because it's raining a bit.

* * *

When Daniel dies, or ascends, or whatever you wanna call it - it isn't field hockey season. By the time the season does start up again, Jonas is integrated into their team. Before the match even starts, the girls ask her who the new guy is and where Daniel is. 

She can't exactly say he transcended to a higher plane of existence. She tells them he went missing on some archaeological dig, and is probably dead but they never recovered his body. It's a good cover story. She's had time to think about it.

Following her declaration, there is a silence in the locker room. Then the captain stood up, the girls followed her out, and they won their game by the biggest margin ever.

Afterwards, Sam lets herself cry just a little bit in the locker room, and accepts kind words and hugs from her (hockey) team mates.

Jonas tells her he was surprised how aggressive the sport was. She replies it's a good way to help people work out their problems.

* * *

And when Daniel turns up again, they lose by the biggest margin ever. The return of a man from the (supposedly) dead was just a little bit distracting for the rest of the team.

* * *

Two years later, she leaves the team to go to Area 51. When she inevitably is called back to the SGC, she doesn't rejoin. With Cassie and Jack away, she knows her team mates would never remember to turn up anyway. 

Part of her is ashamed of this choice. Hockey was about her being her. On the hockey field, nobody cared if she had a PhD or was competent with a very large number of weapons. If she went for a drink at the bar afterwards, nobody would ask about the latest version of the naquedah reactor. Instead they joked, shared funny stories, and flirted with men in the bar. Instead she was Sam Carter, left wing.

She thinks that if Janet was alive, she probably would have rejoined the team. But since she lost her best friend to a stray staff blast, she hasn't really felt like being just Sam Carter so much. For one thing, there is nobody else she'd call when she gets a bit too drunk to come pick her up. Leaving for Area 51 gave her a legitimate excuse to leave the team. She just never told them she was back.

* * *

One day, she comes into a room to find Vala watching field hockey on the TV. She's not sure if Vala's interest was piqued by all the women running round in short skirts or by the sport itself. But she feels bad for Vala in that moment. The woman was full of energy and stuck here with nothing to entertain her but the TV and anyone on base she could find. 

She asks Vala if she wants to learn to play. She also knows Vala is one of a few women who could pull of the hockey skirt look. And Vala being Vala, up for anything, (especially if it gets her off base) says yes.

Sam calls her old team captain, explains she has a friend from abroad who would really like to have a go at learning, and has never played the game. Could they just come along to training?

And so they go. Vala picks up the sport really fast, showing a natural aptitude Sam did not expect. She also gets along well with the other players that Sam did expect.

One day the captain of the team approaches Vala and asks if she wants to play defense. Vala agrees without consulting Sam first. Sam feels obligated to rejoin the team if only to keep an eye on Vala. She thinks she might regret it, at forty-two she feels a bit old for this. In the time she left there have been quite a few younger additions to the team. However, she supposes she is a lot fitter then the average forty-two year old.

A voice in Sam's head also tells her she might be doing it because she doesn't want to be shown up by the new, prettier girl on base. A louder voice in Sam's head said she might be doing the whole thing because she actually misses it. She hopes the second voice is right.

* * *

Vala ensures the entire base knows when they are going to play, not just SG-1. She often gets Teal'c to drive her to the games, by claiming it's easier than Sam having to go all the way to base to pick her up. 

And suddenly the crowds at the home hockey matches include a much larger percentage of the SGC. Sam assumes it's because there aren't many men on the base who wouldn't enjoy watching Vala run around in a short skirt. However, she has at least an equal number of admirers.

* * *

And when he can get away from Washington, being the big important General he is, she sees Jack O'Neill standing at the edge of the pitch, making sure she is following orders. 


End file.
